Mt. Washington History

High in the hills of Pittsburgh sits Mt. Washington, a neighborhood named for none other than George Washington himself, who was dispatched by the British army to survey the area during the French + Indian War. It was from his view from atop Mt. Washington that Washington discovered that the point of Pittsburgh (now Point State Park) was located on three rivers. Washington quickly determined that a military point would be of utmost importance at this site and the struggle for this piece of land below was a center of the French and Indian War.

When the war ended, Mt. Washington became known as "Coal Hill," in recognition of the many coal mines located there. Known as the single most important mineral deposit of the time, the community became a destination for English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish immigrants. In the late 1870s, German and Eastern European immigrants descended upon the region and built the four inclined railway systems that the region became famous for. Two of these inclines, the Duquesne and the Monongahela, still run today, providing both transportation and entertainment to the residents and visitors of Mt. Washington.